In a new book, Star Wars reconnected an important Jedi ritual from Star Wars: The Clone Warschanging the way fans will view lightsabers forever. Lightsabers are one of the most iconic images of all Star Warsand over the years, the stories explained them more and more. The new romance Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss by Steven Barnes, however, has just offered new information that undermines a previously held truth.
Early Star Wars Stories have confirmed that lightsabers were powered by crystals, from Adegan crystals to synthetic ones. However, it was only in the prequel era that stories began to explore how the Jedi Order obtained their Kyber crystals during the period leading up to the Clone Wars. This was a special, sacred ritual known as The Gathering.
Star Wars Reunion Ritual Explained
The Young Man’s Claim to the Kyber Crystals
The Gathering was a pivotal moment in the young Jedi’s lives. In the clans into which they were grouped, the Initiates, or Younglings, traveled to the icy planet Ilum of the Unknown Regions to retrieve Kyber crystals. These special crystals were only found on a few planets and powered Jedi lightsabers, determining their color. The crystals were not simple to find and involved much more than just a search.
The Force-imbued mystical nature of the caves and temple on Ilum presented each Jedi Initiate with a challenge based on their own fears, aiming for them to conquer their fears while obtaining a tool to build their new weapon with Huyang. The Kyber called to them, and once they faced their fears and overcame the physical or mental challenge, they would be able to claim it for themselves.. This was seen as an absolutely essential step for a Jedi, claiming the Kyber crystal that called them individually.
Star Wars reveals return of adult Jedi to Ilum
Kyber crystals are not for life
The assumption, after The Clone WarsIt was always that The Gathering was a unique journey that Jedi would take when building their first lightsaber. This is regardless of age, as Cal Kestis personally goes to Ilum in Jedi: Fallen Order in order to claim a crystal to build his own lightsaber – during the Empire’s occupation of the world. According to Mace Windu: The Glass Abysshowever, the idea that this was a one-time trip is not the case – and Kyber crystals are not for life.
Turning around, the next thing he saw was a plexisteel display case. Here Mace stored lightsaber hilts, from his first half-scale weapon he built in childhood to various models he fashioned over the years using the kyber crystals of Ilum that named him. His personal designs have evolved, as has tradition.
This establishes that The Gathering wasn’t the only time a Jedi went to Ilum – in fact, it could happen many times, whenever they needed a new lightsaber. probably for whatever reason. Mace Windu has his own display case with all his purple lightsabers, each containing a new Kyber crystal that called him into Ilum. He even has a smaller weapon that he created after Mace himself entered The Gathering for the first time!
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What does the adult version of the reunion ritual look like?
Jedi claiming another Kyber crystal
The idea that older Jedi could return to Ilum to claim new Kyber crystals for more lightsabers raises more questions. Do they still go in groups or can Jedi Knights and Masters go alone whenever they want? If they were to go on their own, they would have to know its location – and Ilum’s location was a closely guarded secret of the Order. This means that if this were true, the former Jedi Imperial Inquisitors may have been the ones to reveal Ilum’s location to the Empire so they could turn it into Starkiller Base.
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Whatever method is needed, the idea that Jedi other than Padawans could return to Ilum at will to claim new crystals makes sense. Numerous Jedi throughout the prequels had different lightsabers between appearances, making this a solid explanation for those little ones. Star Wars inconsistencies. Most of all, though, it explains where Anakin’s new lightsaber came from! Young Skywalker’s lightsaber was destroyed on Geonosis, and it stands to reason that he would need a new Kyber crystal for another saber – and now it’s likely that he got that crystal from Ilum itself, as first seen in The Clone Wars.